Brankis wrote: As far as the sound goes there is no doubt that ableton has a colored sound but this may be only a result of the real-time sound and not what actually happens when you hit render. i find the sound gets worse the more plugins i add and more CPU i use and this is not the case in Reaper or other apps...
so it may be possible to get a good sound (as some people do) just within live but you would have to be aware of the live "sound" and compensate for that with your mixing like what henke was saying. then you hit render and all the quality is there like any other app
this is why no one can prove it because its all about the real time sound and hearing the coloration. i think it is very noticeable that live gets much shittier sounding the more plugs you pile on and tracks you add. Opuswerk is probably right on the money by only using the built in stuff in Ableton actually.
my possible theory is that what is happening in live people keep trying to compensate for what they are hearing in real time by adding on tons of plugs and trying to get a good sound. then it finally sounds "OK" but they hit render and its way off. this would also explain why everyone claims internal resample has less "color" than render.
for me i like live in the production process but there is no doubt that rewire to something like Logic or Reaper gives a much clearer sound/less colored sound. and a sound that you can count on being the same after you hit render
this is why it is not wise to believe the null tests over your hearing
...and god has digged some holes to hide dinosaur bones to make us believe that earth was not created 5000 years ago...
You will always find some explanation if you do not want to change your believes. When you hear the real-time sound, there is actually less CPU load than when rendering! And the sound quality stays exactly the same, if you have 5 tracks or 50 (i can do a null test for you if you dont believe me
). This is until your CPU is maxed out. Than you cannot play back in real time anymore, and you start to hear cracks and glitches. The assumption that real-time sound is degraded and rendered sound is not, does not make any sense.I think this whole discussion comes up again and again, because on the internet wrong information is multiplied so many times in such a short time, that it becomes common believe. The one and only argument against Ableton always is the "use your ears" thing. Well guess what, just because you are influenced to hear something and than make it up, it is still not there. And this is why I believe null tests over your hearing anyday.
IMO this is actually what its all about.Raddler wrote:I seriously think all this debating comes down to one simple thing. The plugins/effects in Logic sound better than in Live. This, I noticed immediatly when i made the switch.
